Truth Is
by RnaiLAUG
Summary: You see, Misao always wanted to be number one in Aoshi’s eyes. Sadly, after failure and failure again, Misao finally decided maybe no guy would want her. But summer’s full of new opportunities, right? Set in modern day Japan...SxM temporarily on hold
1. Take me Away

Truth Is

NOTE: Just to let you know, almost everybody in this story, all the characters are sophomores unless I say so otherwise. And I don't own RK characters.

You see, Misao always wanted to be number one in Aoshi's eyes. Sadly, after failure and failure again, Misao finally decided maybe no guy would want her. But summer's full of new opportunities, right?

Chapter one – Take me Away

It had been a long strenuous year at Kabanaka High. Full of gossip, lies, crushes, and drama. But the lowlight of her year by far was getting rejected by Aoshi her crush, during the final day of school. All of her sophomore year did she pursuit after the tall young man Aoshi. She would talk to him at any open opportunity, and would try to make herself as noticeable as possible, and also, she tried to flash her best smiles at him every so often.

It all started in the freshman year. It was about a few weeks after she began her high school career. Ever since the first time she made eye contact with the man, who was then just a boy, did he always have a special place in her heart.

He went out with a couple girls in the past two years, and so did she except the other way around. But no matter how much she tried to divert her attention, her eyes always searched for Aoshi in the crowd.

For all of her first year, she tried to tell herself that he wasn't all that. She tried to stop thinking about him, and even mentally beat herself down sometimes. It was only during the second year, her sophomore year, did she actually try to go after his heart. It was hard, because he usually liked the calm girls. The extraordinary looking girls. But Misao, she was the sporty type. She played as many sports, as many as she could actually. She played soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and softball in the spring. She was a sparkplug! And apparently, Aoshi only liked those types as friends.

"Misao! Wait up!"

It was Omasu, her best friend who was know running towards her trying her hardest to catch up. You see, Omasu was the conservative type. She actually almost went out with Aoshi once since he was said to have had mentioned her names in a few accidental statements. But that all ended when this new girl, Okon, came to Kabanaka High at the beginning at their sophomore year. And that was the last known relationship Aoshi had ever been in. Okon…

"Misao! Please wait! You know I'm not as fast as you!"

Misao finally turned around, "What?"

When Omasu finally caught up, she had to rest her hands on her knees for some time before she finally caught her breath, "Sorry Misao, I just wanted to see what's up."

You see, Misao was in a really bad mood.

Ever since about twenty minutes ago, when Aoshi asked her to try her hardest to persuit someone else, had she never been so embarrassed in her life.

"Nothing's up, I just wanted to get home."

"Why?"

That was a good question actually, all that was at home were chores and crap like that.

"Because Shiro needed help with something, that's what."

Omasu finally stood up straight while wiping away the sweat from her brow, "Why would your brother need your help with anything?"

Misao shot her a deathglare, "I mean…! I mean why WOULDN'T your brother want your help with EVERYTHING?"

Misao slumped her shoulders and flung her head up towards the sky above, "Omasu! What's am I gonna do the entire summer?"

Omasu looked up to the sky as well while staying silent for a while. When she finally did speak, she said, "You know, I was talking to Aoshi for a while and he said he felt awful for what he said…"

She looked back at Misao who was now staring at the ground. Her eyes looked so sad now. Her first real rejection, you know how those feel.

"I have to go now, I'll call you tomorrow, ok?"

With that, she jogged off in the direction of her home. Omasu watched in the distance and remembered how lively Misao was at the beginning at the school year. It seemed like nothing could get in the way of her hopes, ambitions, and dreams until she met Aoshi. That was one of the reasons Omasu abandoned Aoshi's wishes for her to be his girlfriend. You see Omasu was a very good friend. She was also a good friend because no matter how many times Aoshi tried to ask her, she always denied him. Only when Okon came was the time when she could focus more on trying to make Misao feel better on herself. But by then, the damage was already done.

Misao soon arrived to her house and entered the kitchen to grab something to eat. Shiro was there already looking at some magazines with his friend Kuro.

"Hey shrimp, I thought you were going to hang out with Omasu after school?"

She shook her head, "Nope, I decided not to."

Kuro then spoke up, "So how was your last day of school Misao?"

She shrugged, "it was ok I guess."

Shiro nudged Kuro with a smirk on his face, "Seems like it was pretty bad, maybe it was that dude Aoshi who she's been crushing over for a long time."

They chuckled while Misao blushed shades redder than a tomato and yelled, "DON'T TALK TO ME EVER AGAIN!"

She then sprinted up the stairs to her room while she heard the laughter coming from downstairs finally seemed to fade.

And she didn't really mean what she said, about never talking to her brother again. That was one of the reasons why she was sad the school was finally over. She was sad because her brother was now going to college in the upcoming fall season. She was going to miss having him around the house…soon there was going to be no one to bug around the house.

She sat at her computer and clicked on the AIM icon.

She signed on and just sat there for a moment. No one talked to her and she didn't talk to anyone.

She felt kind of lonely sometimes.

But her hope for finding that special someone was always what kept her going. She just always hoped that special person was Aoshi. But maybe she should move on.

"Hello?"

It was her mother coming from the other room over, "Oh yes, how are you? I'm fine thanks."

Misao paused a moment. For some reason, she was interested in her mother's phone call, "Oh…really? We have?"

Misao listened intently as she inched towards her door so she could get closer to the conversation, "Oh my…Oh no that's horrible…!"

Misao blinked a few times. Her mom sounded stressed, "She would? Well…well alright, I guess that's ok. I'll have to talk to my husband and children about it first though. …Oh we do? So long do we have? …Uh huh, I see…ok, two days? Sure thing. Talk to you later…ok, bye."

Misao paused for a moment since there was only silence. But after a few moments, she heard her mother's door clicked and footsteps coming towards her. She scampered to her bed and pulled out a magazine and began to read it.

When her mother opened the door, she entered and crossed her arms, "Misao, listen up, this is serious business."

Misao's eyes perked up as she heard the sternness of her mother's voice, "You remember your cousin Hagiri up north?" she nodded, "Well his mother's friend, my good friend as well, has just had a terrible accident. The father is in the hospital and they don't have the financial support to keep their son with them so I was wondering if it was ok with you if he stayed here. It will probably only be for a month and you wouldn't be held responsible to hang out with him. But, she's a really good friend of mine and I really want to help her out."

Misao agreed and asked, "Just wondering, why didn't she ask you her self?"

Her mother rubbed her head, "She's a very modest person and is probably embarrassed about it so, are you sure? I don't feel like I need to ask Shiro since he's leaving soon but I just wanted to clear things up with you."

Misao nodded, "Sure."

Her mother smiled and nodded once more before leaving the room, "Thanks Mis."

With that, she clicked the door shut.

Misao really didn't think about it. She just thought about how she had to clean her room before he arrived. She didn't even wonder about what he'd look like. All she knew was that she wanted to spend as much time not thinking about Aoshi as she could.

And it was also a little hard to imagine. In the next week, a new guest would be staying at their house. Probably taking Shiro's room no doubt. She wondered if things would change at all. She doubted it and went back to reading.

But right before she did, she looked out the window and sighed, 'Goodbye Aoshi…'

Then she went back to reading her magazine.

If only she knew how much the newcomer would change her life… 

A few days passed and Misao and Shiro were waiting out on the front porch. Misao was wearing a red tank top, cutoffs, and sandals while she stood rocking back and forth as she began to get bored.

"Shiro, do you thin they're going to be here soon?"

Shiro shrugged as he leant back on his feet a couple times, "They should be here any second so just hold up."

Misao watched down the street as if she were forcing them to come faster, "Come on…"

All of a sudden, their mother's car turned the corner and began driving towards them, "Here they come," Shiro commented quietly as they pulled up to the driveway.

Misao's breath was caught a little short as the car pulled to a halt. She hadn't really thought about it before, but something about a person she had never met before coming into her house sounded kind of scary. But, her mother knew his mother so everything was ok, right?

Hopefully.

The driver's door opened and out popped her mother who ran over the other side of her car and opened the door for whoever was inside. She paused for a moment while smiling widely towards Misao and Shiro before she opened the door. When she did, a hand emerged from inside the car and gripped the outside border of the car. Next a foot, then another foot, then his entire body.

Misao looked up, he wasn't uncontrollably hot, nor was he that bad looking. He had dark brown hair that almost looked black and matched his dark blue eyes, which wasn't all too common. He stood about one or two inches taller than Misao and also had a slim figure. The most curious thing about him though, was the fact that he wore this smile that just stood out more than any of his other features.

"Misao, Shiro, this is Soujiro Seta. He'll be staying with us for the next month, month and a half, and he'll be staying in the guest room."

Misao and Shiro bowed while Soujiro bowed back. Then Misao's mother continued, "And Soujiro, this is Misao and Shiro. They are my children and they will assist you with anything you might need help with."

Misao flinched a little, she thought her mom had said she didn't have to do anything with him? She mentally shook her head and ridded it of all bad thoughts, 'This is supposed to be a learning experience. Like…and exchange student.'

"Shiro," Misao's mother continued, "Why don't you take Soujiro up to his room and while you're at it, give him a tour around the house."

Shiro nodded and called, "Come on, lemme show you around."

Soujiro walked after Shiro, but while he walked by Misao, he gave her one of his smiles.

She watched him pass then enter the house, "Nice boy isn't he?" Her mother asked.

Misao shrugged, "Well he hasn't really said anything so I wouldn't know."

Her mother agreed, but Misao wasn't finished, "So why is he here again?"

Her mother lowered her head just a slight bit and inhaled deeply, "Well," she began, "Her father became sick and he had to go to the hospital and that's about it. The family is pretty well off, but the sudden jump in expenses made the mother panic. Also, she preferred if Soujiro didn't have to see his father like that."

Her mother drifted off, and rubbed her eye a little, "I'm sure I haven't heard the whole story, but that's all I know so far."

Misao watched her mother. Ever since her husband, Misao's mother, passed away, things had gotten so much harder. It was in the fourth grade. Sure it might've seemed like a long time ago, but it still affected her sometimes. She even felt a little guilty for not crying that much, but pain has its different ways of getting to people.

She still felt bad sometimes though, like sometimes she would just stare up at the ceiling to herself while she would finally drift off to sleep. She would think about the great times they had together. But what bothered her the most was the fact that she wished she got to spend that much more time with him. But what always brought her back to reality was the fact that some things were better left a mystery.

But it still hurt sometimes.

Misao walked through the door and walked up the stairs to her room.

She saw Shiro and Soujiro talking in front of her bedroom door.

She then pried into their conversation, "And make sure you don't go in there or you will, for no doubt, get your ass kicked. Also, she just has funky little girl things in there anyways."

"SHIRO!"

He looked down the stairs and smirked as if he knew she was there, "Hi Missy."

She hung her mouth open a little as she jogged up the stairs as fast as she could, stopped right in front of him, and tried to push him out of the way, "Moove!"

"Moove?" Shiro taunted, "What? You're a cow now?"

Soujiro chuckled a little at this remark and Misao finally pushed through. When she reached the door, she opened it and slammed it behind her.

Well this was going to be great. Her crush for forever just shot her down and there was a new member in the house living with them who now had just witnessed her get made fun of by her brother.

Great. Just great.

The rest of the day went by peacefully though. She just basically stayed in her room the whole time and took plenty of naps. The next day wasn't that peaceful though. Because tomorrow was a special 'bonding' day.

Woo!

Misao woke up with a late start. It was around 10am when Misao left her room and headed downstairs. She smelled eggs, 'I like eggs,' she thought to herself.

When she reached the bottom of the staircase, she went bug-eyed to find Soujiro standing at the stove cooking what looked like eggs.

"I forgot…"

Misao muttered to herself.

Soujiro turned around, surprised to see that anyone was there, "Good morning Misao. I was told that you like big breakfasts so I'm making some eggs if you can wait for a few minutes."

Misao just kind of stood there. She was way past the point of embarrassment to even utter a word except for, "Thanks…?"

He disappeared for a quick moment and all of a sudden, Misao felt a slight pushing on her back. It was Soujiro who was now trying to nudge her over to the table which he was constantly bringing food to, "Where you learn to cook like this?" She asked him.

He replied, "My mom taught me a while back for when she was working and I was home alone.

That was odd, the words poured out of her mouth like she was so comfortable, when in truth, she had just met him. She sat in her seat for a while and ate little by little until she finally finished off everything that was given to her, "So Soujiro," she began, "do you like it here so far?"

He nodded, "It's very nice. The weather's always just right, the sky has the right amount of clouds, and the wind breezes by just when I expect it to."

Misao kind of just sat there, "Well, I was kind of just expecting a yes or no answer but…ok."

She played with a little food on her plate, "So what were your friends like where you come from?"

Soujiro shrugged, "They're like any other friends a person might have I guess."

Misao nodded and was about to say something else but before she could, the phone rang. He scooted her chair back and scampered to the phone, which was now on its third ring, "Hello?" she asked while she answered the phone.

"Oh hey…nope, nothing. …Really? When? Today? Now? Kay, I'll try to be there in half an hour," she was just about to say goodbye until she glanced at Soujiro and continued talking, "Actually, Omasu? Can I bring a friend? …No, you don't know him. Yeah it's a him. Thanks, bye."

She hung up the phone and ran around the kitchen while trying to clean everything up while Soujiro asked, "Who was that?"

"That was my friend Omasu!" She gasped as she continued to run around while trying to wipe and tidy things.

Soujiro watched her run around, "Where are you going?"

Misao stopped at the sink and began scrubbing, "WE'RE going to an end-of-the-year party in ten minutes so get ready and see you downstairs in the living room in nine minutes!"

Then she was gone.

He liked Misao. He liked how open she was and how she was willing to try new things. He also liked how she didn't make things awkward when he was around him. There were always those girls…but obviously Misao wasn't one of them.

He went upstairs to change. When he passed by Misao's room, he heard her singing to herself. She had a pretty voice. It was one of those voices that sounded good even though the singer didn't know. He stopped and waited by the door and listened to the tune. It made him think of his family before all of the 'issues' came about. Sometimes he wished things didn't change but…

"Are you ready?"

…things didn't seem all that bad, you know.

He shook his head and then jogged to his room and ran out with better clothes on, "Now I'm ready."

"That was fast," she commented as she and Soujiro traveled down the stairs.

"So, what are you doing?"

Misao opened the door and went outside, "WE'RE going to an end-of-the-year party at my friend Aeko's house. Don't worry, everyone's nice and stuff. They'll love you."

He looked up as they began walking, "How do you know?"

She shrugged and rolled her eyes, "They just will."

They continued walking for some way and also continued talking about anything that popped up. It started with small talk and then led to bigger things. Well, they weren't that big, it was really just about people who lived in the area.

It took about ten minutes to get to Aeko's house and when they did, it was just getting started, "Misao! What took you?" Omasu asked.

She hopped over, "Oh I have someone with me…come here Soujiro!" she called out as Soujiro walked out from a couple feet behind her.

Omasu gaped a little as she took a good look at him, "I'm Omasu," she said as she held out her shaky hand, "Nice to meet you."

Misao smirked a little as Soujiro took her hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you too."

"Misao!"

All three of them turned to see a girl walking over while waver her hand overhead. She wore a mini jean skirt with sandals and a bikini top. Ok she was a bit of a provocative dresser but she was still a sweet girl. Soujiro stared a little bug-eyed while some of the girl's features were 'bouncing.'

"Hi Aeko…!"

Aeko stopped right in front of Misao, Omasu, and Soujiro, "Who're you?" she asked while pointing at Soujiro

He pointed at himself and replied, "I'm Soujiro."

They stared at each other for a while before Misao began looking back and forth between the two.

After a few seconds Misao clapped her hands and blurted out, "WELL I'M THIRSTY!" she grabbed Soujiro's hand and sprinted off to a table just several meters away.

Soujiro pulled back a little and asked, "What was that for?"

Misao glanced over to Aeko who was now talking to Omasu and some other guy. She sighed and patted Soujiro's shoulder, "I'm afraid she's not the best person to know at certain times."

He glanced over as well and saw Aeko flirting with the guy that had joined Omasu and Aeko's conversation. Omasu was looking back as if she were pleading to be saved, "Oh."

Misao then grabbed herself something to drink as Soujiro asked, "So who here goes to your school?

Misao looked around, "Well, you already know Omasu and Aeko do. Um, the guy by the table over there is Sakuno, then there's …"

She stopped talking for a moment as she glanced over by the pool. There, Aoshi stood while standing next to Okon as they talked to some other people, "Who's that?" Soujiro asked as Misao turned around, "Is he your friend?"

Misao spun her drink around a little, "I wish he…well, we were."

He understood he didn't need to ask anymore. He could tell just by the body posture she had that she had something but obviously didn't want to share it.

She was different than other girls he had met. She was extremely open yet at the same time, she was mysterious.

She was the door that stayed open until he tried to walk through it, then it slammed shut.

Maybe he just needed to find the matching key…

"Misao," she looked up, "Let's get out of here. How about you show me around town instead of this?"

Her eyes brightened just a little as she smiled and grabbed his hand. They ran past Omasu who was now watching Aeko taking the guy by the hand into her house, past Okon who watched them go, and past Aoshi who didn't even notice she was there in the first place.

They ran out the fence and down the street as they began walking again, "Well this is the avenues where a lot of shops and food places are. And then there's the smoothie shop where I used to go every day after school when I was in middle school…"

As she went on, Soujiro cam e to notice that Misao was a very lively person. It was just the strings of society that held her down. Maybe this was the wrong time for her to be born? But maybe that just meant he had to help her out, even though he just met her.

But maybe it would've been so much different if…

End.

Haha I don't really understand why I wrote this. I kind of just busted out and started typing.

It took around a week to finish it and I think it stands for a world of improvement. With this story, I've decided to not write as many notes, so the reader (you) can think of things on your own. But I will tell you this, if you thought the ending was a little weird, I want you to think about it carefully for a moment. 'Maybe this was the wrong TIME for her to be born.' I'll just tell you, it's hinting about the real Soujrio and Misao that happened during the Meiji era blah blah blah. I don't know why, but I just felt like doing that.

Also, this story might seem odd because of the pairings but hey, reading is also about using your imaginations, right? The fluffy bit will happen much more often than my other story because in this fic, Soujiro doesn't have as many 'issues.'

This story's about real life. I've tried to adapt it as well as I can. And also, you be the judge on the rating. There might be some things that promote something wrong, but hopefully, you know what's wrong and what's right, right?

Live!

NaiALUG!


	2. The Good She Didn't See

Truth Is

You see, Misao always wanted to be number one in Aoshi's eyes. Sadly, after failure and failure again, Misao finally decided maybe no guy would want her. But summer's full of new opportunities, right?

Chapter two – The Good She Didn't See

Summer…so much fun. Hot, sunny days and warm, starry nights, nothing got better than that.

You could do anything too since there wasn't any school. You could go swimming at the pool, fish in a nearby lake, or shop wherever money could be spent. But the best thing about the summer was spending some quality time with your friends. That was probably the most fun thing of the season.

So why was Misao was so bored?

The whole first day so far Misao had spent just comprised of using her rear to seat herself onto the couch. Her only exercising was moving her thumb while pressing the TV remote to surf through the channels.

"Hey fatty, you think you could help around the house for once?" Shiro called out to her as he carried a box down the stairs. He was already packing for college even though the application for college dorms didn't start in at least a month. He had a lot of stuff though so maybe that's why, "Missy can you help me with this box? I can't see it with it in the way."

She dragged herself off the couch and picked off the box that was on top of the box he was holding and lifted it up, "Geez, what the hell are you holding in here?"

"Trophies. You know, the stuff you'll never have."

She got mad, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? I HAPPEN TO HAVE A LOT OF TROPHES!"

He chuckled a little, "Yeah, you have one for being student of the month in second grade and one for a sportsmanship award for basketball a couple years ago. And I have no idea how that happened."

He began laughing while Misao shoved the box back on top of his and yelled, "How do you like that? I'd like to see how far your trophies will get you now!"

She stormed down the stairs and huffed as she sat back down on to the couch and began flipping through the channels again.

"Misao! You know I was just kidding! Misao!"

"Not listening!" She yelled back the volume of the television gradually climbed.

It was a muffled sound, but Misao could hear a crash in the background behind the blaring volume.

Misao giggled a little as she lowered the volume. Just then, Soujiro entered the building from outside, "Hello Misao…what happened here?"

Misao climbed up from her position and looked behind her to find a mess, which her fallen brother had made, "Oh, I didn't know you dropped that much. Sorry."

Shiro threw some junk off of himself and stood up, "Yeah, thanks…" he replied as he dusted his shirt off, "So now can you help me with all this?"

She nodded and hopped down and Soujiro walked over too.

As they began to pick up some of the material, Misao came upon an old book, "What's this?"

Shiro looked down and replied, "Oh I think that's mom's old scrapbook."

She looked up, "So how come you have it?"

He shrugged, "I might've took it to take a look at it and forgot to give it back. Mom's probably looking for it…what's in it anyways?"

Misao opened it and coughed as the dust picked up, "Just a few old pictures…"

She began flipping through a few more pages as Soujiro shifted over so he sat next to her. Shiro ddi the same as well, "Whoa, is that mom?" Misao exclaimed as she brought the photo album closer to her face as if that helped her see better.

"Yeah, I remember mom told me that was on a trip…the trip that dad asked her to marry him."

She gazed down at the picture a little more. Her mother was so pretty way back then. It even showed now but the years covered it up somewhat. Misao remembered that her mother was visiting Hawaii that week with her husband to be and a close friend. The pictured showed all of them. Her mother was dressed in a white dress with a lei of yellow flowers that she wore around her neck. Her father was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt that made him stick out like a sore thumb.

But, there was a woman to her mother's left. Another woman dressed in white with yellow flowers around her neck. She had pitch black hair and these beautiful dark blue eyes…it reminded her of…

In the corner of her eye, she looked at Soujiro who was staring at the picture as well. He was smiling, but it wasn't his normal smile. It was if he was admiring the picture.

"Soujiro…is that your mom?"

She looked up for a moment, and then returned his gaze to the photo, "Yeah…I remember she told me the story about your parents."

Her head turned a little, "What story?"

Soujiro took one final look at the picture before sitting up straight, "She told me about how she knew your mother since forever and how your mom always told my mom that she always wanted to get purposed to in front of a beautiful sunset. Maybe even get married there too. And when your mother met your dad, she only told him once but he always remembered it. She thought he'd forgotten but on a sudden trip to Hawaii, he popped the question in front of the most amazing sunset my mom had ever seen. And a year later, they got married at the same spot."

He paused as he took a look at Misao. It seemed as if she wasn't even paying attention she was so deep in thought, "it's a pretty good story I guess," he added as he took the book from her and began looking at it.

"That's so romantic…I wish the man of my dreams would ask me to marry him in a situation like that…"

Soujiro took one last look at Misao before he sat up and began cleaning. Misao was still in her own little world by the time the mess was already cleaned up.

"She does that," Shiro said, "She just blanks out every once in a while."

"Shut up Shiro!"

"Yeah, yeah…sure thing," Her older brother grumbled and chuckled as he stood up and headed upstairs.

"What? You're just going to leave all your stuff here on the floor?" Misao yelled after her brother.

"Yeah, just drop them off outside in front of the door. Thank you!"

Misao turned around and crossed her arms in a huff as she began to pick up the mess that had befallen the floor. But as she was picking things up one at a time, Soujiro began to help her. But it wasn't long until he finally said, "Your brother cares for you a lot, doesn't he?"

Misao dropped the trophy she was holding and looked up with a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Soujiro began while picking up the trophy she dropped and handed it to her, "I can hear it in his voice, if that makes sense. He has a certain caring sound to his voice. You two must be close."

Misao's head backed away as her eyes widened a little, "Are you kidding me? We're anything but close! We're like…we're like enemies!"

He tilted his head, "It doesn't seem like it…"

Her eyes widened as she backed away a little, "Are you serious? Didn't you just see us fighting a few minutes ago?" she asked loudly. But Soujiro just sat there and smiled as he looked downwards.

"Whatever you say Misao."

Her eyebrows then twisted, "What do you mean, 'Whatever I say?' Hey wait a second!" she called out to him as he stood up and began to walk upstairs.

"What?"

She scrambled up to her feet, "Don't just leave me down here with all this stuff! You have to…can you...will you help me?" she called out to him as he leaned on the railing of the staircase and smiled. Well, it was actually more of a smirk but it still counted as a smile.

"Do you need me to help you?"

She opened her mouth as if she was trying to saying something, but nothing came out. It was strange because she never fumbled with her words. She always made sure not to mess up with her words so she wouldn't look like an idiot in front of other people. But now…this was different.

"Cat caught your tongue?"

She snapped out of it, "What? NO!"

With that, he ran up to his room and she chased him. They kind of resembled little kids.

And that's another thing Misao had never done before, act immature or younger than her age.

"I said wait! WAIT!" he ran through his door and Misao followed a few moments after.

"Just try and catch me!"

Was it that she was getting…

"Where'd you go?"

…comfortable?

Misao looked around the room, but she couldn't find a Soujiro. She took a few steps forward until she reached his bedside. She noticed that on the pillow laid a small frame. She bent down to get a better look at it, only to find a small photo of this beautiful woman with black hair, black eyes, while wearing a simple white dress…wait. Wait a second.

All of a sudden she heard footsteps behind her and as she turned around, she caught a brief glimpse of Soujiro running out the door.

She didn't have enough time, but as she took one last glimpse at the picture, the picture of the beautiful woman, Soujiro's mother, just seemed a little darker.

For some strange reason…

But then she ran out the door as she followed his lead.

"Soujiro! Where'd you go?" she called out and to her disappointment, no one answered. She stopped running by this time as she stood in place while trying to listen for creaks in the floor or the sound of doors clicking shut. But amazingly enough, she heard nothing as she continued to wait.

Soon five minutes passed by as she refused to make any movement just in case she'd miss the long anticipated noise. She wasn't about to give up.

Five more minutes passed by…

Another minute…

Click…

"HYAAHH!"

Then she just pounded on whoever walked out of the nearby door.

Sadly she didn't know that was Shiro's room.

Too bad she didn't know it was Shiro…

"What the hell Misao?"

She looked up from where she and her elder brother laid. There sat an angry looking Shiro as he held his shoulder, "How the hell did you jump high enough to reach my shoulder?" he shouted as he gently caressed it, "It HURTS."

She gave him a meager smile, "Oops…sorry."

"Sorry?" Shiro began, "SORRY? My arm hurts like a mother! What did you think I was, some freak burglar or something? Have you ever heard of self control? LOOK BEFORE YOU FRICKING LEAP?"

By this time, Misao was crawling away with her back to the floor as Shiro continued to fume. But she was then abruptly stopped by something she bumped into.

She looked up only to find a confused looking Soujiro.

"What the?" she yelled as she hopped up, "Where were you?"

He still looked a little frightened, "Well, I ran downstairs and waited but after several minutes I got bored so I watched a little TV. Where were you?"

Something snapped in Misao's head, "WHERE WAS I? I was waiting up in the middle of this hallway so I could sneak up on you! But you, you were watching TV this whole time? Why didn't you come get me?" she finished as she gasped for air since she was yelling the whole time.

"You little psychotic freak! You mean to tell me you were just waiting here the whole time then out of nowhere, BAM. You decide to go kung fu on my ass? My shoulder hurts hell of bad! I'm going to kill you!" Shiro hollered as he scrambled up to his feet even though his arm hurt.

Misao squeaked while she spun around to hide behind Soujiro who was well past the point of confusion.

"What happened?

"I'll kill you!"

"Don't let him get me!"

Just then Misao and Shiro's mother walked through the front door with a bag of groceries. After shutting and locking the door behind her, she turned only to find the mess Shiro, Misao, and Soujiro left. She sighed to herself as she walked towards the mess and hopped between the open spaces that were left from when the three were actually cleaning up the mess.

But as she set her grocery bag onto the kitchen table, she decided to clean up a little so no one would trip, fall, and die. As she walked over, she kneeled down and began picking up items and gently setting them into the partially crumpled box. And as one of her hands reached for one of her son's trophies, something caught her eye as it shimmered in the sun from the open window.

There laid the picture of her, her husband, and Soujiro's mother. She gazed at it for a moment before finally picking it up. As she did, she held it out in front of her for a moment as she reminisced the moment it happened, the proposal.

It was amazing really, how much things had changed over the past few years. It seemed like time was making its way too quickly around her. It made her sad to know that he would never see Misao's wedding, let alone her graduation. He never saw the growth spurt she had last year, or help her in times when she had problems. He would never see Shiro's big day when he would set off for college, he would never see any of that.

It hurt to know he didn't see how things improved, or how much they became better. It hurt to know she would never see him again.

It hurt to know he was gone.

But, she had to move on. It was how she worked, how she functioned. She could never spend that long on something or then she'd fall behind, so that meant she had to do the same with remembering him. So she had to move on or she wouldn't function properly.

But she did miss him so. She missed the way he held her close, the way he always listened to her and her dreams, the way he'd smile and make things feel better, and the way he had always been there.

So Misao's mother took one last heartfelt look at the picture before she held it close to her chest.

There were no tears and no breakdowns. She wasn't tremendously sad because she knew that's how things happened, and she learned to cope ever since the doctor told her he wouldn't make it. But sometimes, sometimes there's a sadness that isn't sad, but surpasses it. A sadness that can only be described in thought, in memory…

…A sadness of hope maybe?

'Please promise to be strong for me…'

She promised and kept her word for so long, but it was just getting so hard and even harder as every second slowly ticked by…

She couldn't take much more of this.

She sat up and headed towards the kitchen so she could begin to prepare dinner. As she pulled some carrots out of her shopping bag and as she set them on the table, she set the picture of her, her husband, and Soujiro's mother onto the area of the counter next to herself. She smiled at it and continued to work.

But she jumped when she heard a crash noise, "OWW! MOM!"

It was Misao.

It as also Misao who came ripping around the corner with Shiro close behind, "Mom, grab her!"

Misao sprinted past her and her brother soon followed, "Now why would I grab Misao?" The two were basically running around in a circle around the dining room table, constantly stopping as if they were trying to psyche each other out.

Soujiros then walked into the kitchen and chuckled.

But, for some strange reason, he diverted his attention for a split second.

And he saw the picture of Misao's parents and his mother. He took a look back at Misao's mom who showed a great deal that she used to be a very beautiful young woman. And he took a last look at his own mother, who was very beautiful as well. Her essence though, now that was something that he always noticed. There was always this sweet sorrow about her. He remembered how she would tell him a story about how she and Misao's mother were so different, and they still managed to stay best of friends.

Indeed they were different though. Misao's mother was the giggler, the flirter, the one who always managed to get these great boyfriends. His mother on the other hand and one who saw the whole picture, and tried not to go along with things because of peer pressure and other difficulties teenagers would come across. She was quieter too, she still had a good time, but she didn't always need to be with a crowd that defined her. She was friendly loner; one who could have more fun while sitting outside than going to the movies with a group of friends. She was one people would look up to, but had a certain fear towards her since she could see you so well. She didn't always get the right guys, but as she began to understand why and how things worked, people couldn't separate from her. But there were always those times when she wished she could sit out in front of the stars and listen to the music of the night.

But Soujiro didn't know that, he just thought there was something different about her than other people…she saw something they didn't. She say more than she wanted to. But it was a good different, he could tell.

What he couldn't tell though, was the personality his mother had, had rubbed off a little on him. But he couldn't tell because it blended with the personality of his father, who was always smiling no matter what happened.

"Oh Soujiro," Misao's mother asked, "Can you help me stop them?"

He nodded as he walked over to them. He grabbed Shiro's shoulders as Misao's mother stepped in front of Misao.

"Now what happened?" she asked quite firmly.

"She's out of control! She jumped out of no where and kicked my arm off!"

She turned to face him, "Let me see."

He walked over to her as he scowled at Misao along the way. She returned the favor by sticking her tongue out at him, "Now let me check," his mother cooed as he flinched when he lifted it.

CRACK.

Out of nowhere, Misao's mother grabbed his arm and popped it back into place. Soujiro stood back in horror as he watched Shiro fall onto his rear.

"Good thing I know how to put dislocated shoulders back into place."

Shiro stared in horror at his mother, "How'd you know it was dislocated?"

She chuckled, "It runs in the family! If you set your hand on the victim's shoulder and your left pinky finger begins to tingle, the shoulder is either dislocated, broken, sprained, or twisted."

Soujiro was a little frightened, "That's not a good percentage, you know."

Shiro gripped his arm, "Yeah! What if it was broken?"

Everyone in the room looked at her, "Well, it would've hurt a lot, wouldn't it have?"

Shiro eyes bugged out as Misao took a step back. Apparently their mother had found an unknown strength…

"Well it's not all my fault," Misao taunted, "It's the fat oaf's fault for sneaking up on me."

Her brother shot up from where he was sitting, "SNEAK? You MUST be joking! You attacked me! There's nothing else to it!"

Misao flared a little, "I ATTACKED you because you SNUCK up on me!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"No way!"

"Yeah way!"

"I swear to God if you attack me again, I'll hang you upside the porch."

"WHA! Mom!"

Apparently, this was Soujiro's new family. They were a little quirky and a little different, but it still worked out, right? He would have a lot of work to do. But, his mother would be proud.

He just couldn't wait until he could get to see her.

He was getting a little homesick.

"Shiro!" Their mother called out, "How about you get Soujiro to help you out a little with your belongings?"

Shiro looked back and forth between Soujiro and his mother and shrugged, "If he can take it…"

Shiro then walked past Soujiro and led him out the door, "Come on smiley boy, let's go."

Soujiro's head picked up. He'd never been called smiley boy before. It had a certain ring to it that he liked about it.

Soujiro followed after him and up the stairs and back into his room. He had never really been in Shiro's room before. As Shiro opened the door, Soujiro stared in awe.

Shiro was the real deal! In one corner of the room, Shiro had a mountain of judo, soccer, and football trophies. In another corner, there was an imitation Eiffel Tower made of tooth picks. In the third corner laid a stack of college application letters that all had accepted marks on them. He seemed quite the achiever.

"Wow, you have a whole lot of…"

"Crap. All this stuff just gets in the way."

Soujiro looked around some more, "You mean you don't like all of this?"

In awe, Soujiro began to read all of application letters while Shiro threw some more trophies into a box, "Yeah it's great but sometimes…just once in a while you get tired of looking at all this junk," he lifted the box once it was full and set it by the door, "Hey, can you put all of those letters into that box?" he asked while pointing to a bow with a red X marked on it.

"How many letters are there in here?" Soujiro asked while flipping through the pages.

"Ah, I don't know. Maybe about eleven?"

Soujiro double took Shiro, "You applied to eleven schools? Isn't that kind of expensive?"

Shiro picked up the tooth pick Eiffel Tower and dropped it into another box. Soujiro watched in horror as the masterpiece fell to a shamble, "Nah, I actually applied to three schools. All the rest are like, scholarships."

"For sports?" Soujiro asked while taking a quick glance at Misao's brother's trophies.

Shiro pushed the box full of tooth picks by Soujiro, "One for soccer, one for football, two for judo, two for arts, and two for academics. And don't ask me how that happened."

Soujiro picked the box up that held the tooth picks, "Wow, you do a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah," Shiro began, "Just when I get bored though."

Shiro picked up a couple boxes while Soujiro held one and opened the door, "Oh, Misao told me that you were leaving soon but, dorm applications don't start for what? Another month or so?"

Shiro traveled to the stairs and began to walk down as Soujiro followed after him, "Well, what she didn't tell you was that I'm going off to see the world! A week in Europe and two weeks in America. Also a few days in Hawaii for some R&R."

As they reached the bottom of the staircase, Shiro walked to the front door and opened it so he could set his boxes down outside. Outside, Misao was setting a box into his car. While accidentally bumping into the car a little too hard, she set off the car alarm, "Ooh! Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Shiro rolled his eyes as he set the boxes down and ran back inside the house. He came back out in no time with his eyes as he pushed the unlock button, "Hey Weasel, try not to hurt my baby, ok?"

She pouted a little and stuck her tounge out, "Such a feisty little kid."

"You two seem very close."

He said it again.

But he didn't receive the same response as he did with Misao. This time, Shiro turned his head to face him for a moment, but then turned back and smiled, "Yeah we are…or were. Ever since her whole high school thing started she's been having a rough time. I don't know if it's the grades or the friends or the guys or what, but all I know is that being a girl in high school can be a little difficult."

Soujiro shot Shiro a questionable look, "What?" Shiro began, "You've never met a high school girl who's said she hates life?"

He shook his head while Shiro rubbed his eye, "Maybe it's just been that I've spent too much time with her but I can tell, she just doesn't understand it."

"Doesn't understand what?"

"Doesn't understand," Shiro started while taking in a deep breath, "Why she is who she is. I mean, she sees these other girls who have boyfriends and a whole posse of friends but Misao only has a select few. She has other friends, but they're just not as close. She just doesn't understand why she doesn't seem normal. She's a nice kid, but I think she's come to realize that being a nice kid can be pretty hard if you know what I'm saying."

Soujiro looked at Shiro again, "No, I don't know what you mean."

He looked dumbfounded at Soujiro, "Dude, where have you been growing up?"

Soujiro was about to speak before Shiro interrupted, "You know what? Never mind. It'll probably turn out to be a good thing to have a friend just a little bit more naïve than her. May do her some good."

"What do you mean I'm naïve?"

"Never mind."

"Shiro!" Misao called out from his car, "I am not lugging your huge boxes around. You do it!"

She stomped up the walkway and past them as she entered the house.

Shiro rolled his eyes as he picked up the two boxes he had carried down the stairs and walked down to his car.

In truth, Soujiro did understand what Shiro meant. It was just the words he spoke that left Soujiro, himself thinking. Maybe Shiro was being overprotective. Maybe he was just worried that his little sister would grow up too fast while he was away. Or grow up completely no one knows.

But it was nice to meet someone who cared for another person who cared for another person as much as they cared about themselves. Maybe that's why all the prizes and awards he had received meant nothing. Maybe it was because he felt more for Misao than his own good doings.

Shiro really was a good person.

Misao too, was a good person.

As it turned out, the more Soujiro lived, the more he realized there really are good people out there. People who aren't controlled by greed, power, and lust.

It was nice to be comforted with that thought.

He only wished Misao knew as much as he did.

Thinking of Misao, he looked over to her as she continued to sit on the couch and flip through the channels.

Or maybe it was just a girl thing…

But that's when he decided…

"Hey Misao!"

She looked over behind her back, "What?"

He walked over to the side of the couch, "Do you play soccer?"

Her head picked up, "Yeah, why?"

Soujiro shrugged, "I don't know, I just happen to have this soccer ball with me and I was wondering if you could show me a good field. And maybe you could join me if you can keep up."

She jumped up from where she was sitting, "Of course I can take you on! Come on! There's a field a few blocks away. I'll show you how to play real soccer."

As the two left the building, Soujiro picked up a ball that was dropped by Shiro.

As Shiro watched them walk down the street in the opposite direction of himself, he couldn't help but smile.

Maybe she would be alright after all?

But 'maybe' was such a vague word…

End.

WUT iiT DO? Yeah, this one was a little short. But hey, I'm getting sleepier by the moment. Oh um, for the next month or so, I'm gonna be pretty busy, and just count that for the summer too. Oh, and When Dreams Come True? Yeah, I have absolutely NO ideas for that one. So if you want to leave some deeply needed advice in the review section, it would be muchly appreciated.

And oh my goodness! Over my time on being on an author named sangPakko came along and emailed me a few. After a while, we came to the idea of making a story together. sang is actually an author on other sites who is pretty darned good at twists and plots you normally don't see every day, so I'm very exited about writing this story. It'll take a while, but it'll get done some time or other. And they'll be the keeper of the story so watch out for the author sangPakko and the story called Finding After. That's about all we have so far plus a few notes so peace out, we're gonna make you the best RK SxM you've ever read.

Bye!

NaiLAUG!


	3. Skeletons in His Closet

Truth Is

You see, Misao always wanted to be number one in Aoshi's eyes. Sadly, after failure and failure again, Misao finally decided maybe no guy would want her. But summer's full of new opportunities, right?

Chapter three – Skeletons in His Closet

"Don't let anyone beat you up," Misao commented as she patted her brother's back.

"I'll try," Shiro replied.

Their mother's tears began to water, "This is the last time all three of us will be together! Shiro, honey, are you sure you have to go sign up for dorm rooms?"

Shiro sighed, "Yes mother."

She brought her tissue to her eyes, "Oh Shiro…"

Misao pushed him towards the gate to the plane, "Let's go!"

He turned his head to look back at her, "Aw you'll miss me missy. Just admit it."

"No way," she shook her head and smiled, "I'm going to turn your room into a private closet. Or maybe a study room! Or how about an art room!"

She chuckled, "Sure whatever, I'm not coming back here."

"REALLY?"

Their mother just began to sob even more.

Shiro turned to his mom, "No mom, I mean I'm not going to be living here anymore! I'll come back to visit and stuff!" She couldn't stop, "Mom!"

Misao hugged her from the side, "It's alright mommy you still have me."

Shiro turned towards the gate, "Oh, that's comforting…"

"SHUT UP SHIRO."

"Kids," their mother whimpered, "please don't let our last memory together be one about fighting."

They both turned and nodded. They didn't want to be the ones who made their mother cry so much.

_Last call for flight 21 to Hong Kong._

"Well that's me."

"Bye, miss you."

"You miss me? Sure."

"I'm just trying to be nice."

"You aren't that good of an actor."

"You're ugly."

"You're fat."

"You're-"

"Kids!"

The both turned to their mother and sighed, "I'd better go now," so then Shiro gave one last hug to his beloved mother and sister. He felt guilty for leaving since his mom had no one to be with and his sister was having such a hard time, but that Soujiro kid would take care of them, right? He seemed like a good kid. Shiro was glad he was leaving his family in the hands of Soujiro. Too bad he couldn't say goodbye one last time. But Soujiro was visiting his mother to make sure she was doing well. Also his dad, something was up with him.

Well…goodbye Shiro.

He gazed out the window and saw his mother and sister leaning against the airport window as the watched the plane that Shiro was in began to pull out.

He waved a little at them even though they couldn't see him. He smiled one last time as he saw Misao just standing there solemnly as his mother cried into her tissue.

They were going to be ok…it was just going to take a little will power.

His only worry was that maybe there wasn't any will power left.

He would just have to wait and see.

…

"Bye Shiro…" Misao waved against the window gently. In truth, she really would miss her older brother. There had been so many times that he had stuck up for her, so many times that he had been there for her, and so many memories that they had shared together. It was saddening that it had to end so soon, but everything ends.

These are things that haunt me deeply… 

But, would it hurt more to have been around longer and then to leave?

…_and makes me very sad…_

Or as it was while Misao was young and she knew her brother for a shorter amount of time?

…_the moments we'll never have again…_

It sometimes reminded her of her father. Shiro was old enough to remember him, but it was still sad to recall on the past memories that had long gone by but…

…_or the moments we never had?_

…Misao sometimes wished that she had got to spend some time with him. To have some memories to remember…she was so young.

A few hundred miles away, Soujiro sat at the bedside of his father.

"Soujiro, why don't you fetch him some water?"

He turned to face his mother who was leaning against the doorframe, "Sure."

He stepped out of the room as he heard some mumbling coming from where he had just left. He knew it wasn't going to be long until the inevitable occurred. You know…the big after. He just felt bad for his mother. His mother was been inseparable with him.

He turned on the faucet and watched the water drain into the cup. He heard laughing coming from the room and turned to watch his mother giggling.

It was nice to see her happy nowadays. Her eyes just hadn't lit up the same way when she laughed when she was without _him._

He turned the faucet off and carried it gently to his father's room. He stood by the entrance while waiting for a pause in the conversation so he wouldn't impose.

"Soujiro come in now," his mother called as her son entered the room while carrying the glass of water to his father.

He coughed a little as he sat up and smiled, "Thank you Sou. So how's the family you're staying with?"

"They're nice," he replied, "I'm staying with the Makimachi family. A mother, daughter, and son."

His father nodded, "Are any of the children your age?"

Soujiro glanced off to the side while refusing to smile, "The daughter."

"Oh my," he replied as he winked at his wife, "Have you become friends with her?"

Soujiro stared back at his father, "Yes."

His mother gave a look to Soujiro as if telling him to stop but he wouldn't break his gaze. But Soujiro's father continued to smile as if nothing was amiss in the air.

"Sou-chan," his mother said quite quickly, "How about you give me and your father a little alone time?"

He watched her for a while and sat up and exited the room. He leaned on the outside part of the wall so he could still hear their conversation even though it was a little muffled.

"I don't know what's wrong with him. I'm so sorry." He heard her apologize.

He heard his father chuckle and reply, "There's nothing wrong with him, he's just angry with me. I would be too if I were him."

"But why? Why on earth would he be mad at you?"

"Because," he began, "I haven't been here for quite some time. Always on and off, you know how it is."

"That's no reason to be so rude though!"

It was true though, he was always on business trips until he finally got sick. He had missed a big part of Soujiro's childhood, and Soujiro felt that he had abandoned his family.

He knew it wasn't exactly the way he always had thought it had been. Soujiro came to know that his father was truly and honestly supporting his family, even though he felt a little like something had been missing for a great chunk of his life.

Soujiro walked to the exit of the building and to his mother's car as he sat in the passenger's seat and waited for her to come.

After ten minutes, his mother opened the door, "Why are you like that to him?"

Soujiro just gazed off as his mother stared at the side of his face. But soon she stuck the key in and turned the car on and drove off towards home, wondering how to fix this mess.

But with Misao…

Misao set her purse down by the entry way and checked the phone messages.

'Missy! It's Omasu and I'm home all day doing nothing so call back PLEASE!' 

'_There are no more new messa-,'_

Misao then turned the machine off and dialed up Omasu.

Ring.

Ring.

Ri-, "Hello this is Omasu speaking."

Misao laughed on the other side as she walked up to her room, "You sound so weird when you say that."

"Well I'm just being polite. So did you get my message I left?"

"Yeah. Did you want to hang out or something?"

Omasu's voice picked up, "DUH. That's the reason I called in the first place. Where were you anyways? You always pick up when I call."

Misao layed back on her bed, "My mom and I were dropping Shiro off at the terminal. You know, college dorms…frats and all."

"Your brother isn't going to join a fraternity. He isn't that kind of person. Kuro on the other hand is."

"You're right," Misao replied while giggling, "No frat would let him in."

There was silence on Omasu's line, "That was weak."

"So what do you want to do?" Misao asked while checking her nails to see if any of them were uneven.

"Well, You want to catch a movie or something?"

Misao sighed and whined, "But summer movies suck…"

"Whatever. I'll meet you at the theater at six, alright?"

But even before Misao could answer, Omasu hung up. Meet her at six huh? It was 4:53 now so that gave her an hour to get ready. Ready for what though? It wasn't like Aoshi was going to be there or anything. And even Soujiro wasn't here for the weekend because he was visiting his parents. He wouldn't be back until Monday. And it was only Friday!

This weekend was going to be boring. Shiro and Soujiro were gone and Omasu was going to Hawaii for a week! For crying out loud, didn't Misao have any summer camps or anything? Sheesh.

But she decided to forget about what she was thinking about and began to get ready for the fun night to come.

An hour later, Omasu honked her horn from outside. Misao opened her front door and ran to her friend's car and slammed the door shut. Even though they both said they were going to the movies, they always planned to have a fun time wherever they went.

Misao wore fitting, dark blue Levi's, a long sleeve grey shirt, white shoes, and slung a black purse over her shoulder. She sat on the couch and watched TV while she waited for the clock to strike at six…

HONK HONK

She stood up and turned off the television as she opened the door and called out to her mom, "I'll be with Omasu!"

"Alright! Be back by 11!"

And then the door clicked shut behind her.

Misao hopped into the car and asked, "Where to?"

Omasu revved up the engine, "Well I was thinking about catching a movie and then heading over to a party my cousin was telling me abour."

"The good cousin or the bad one?"

"Neither. The one you thought was really hot two years ago."

Misao checked her messages on her cell, "He still better be fine."

Omasu giggled, "I'm not the one to judge."

"I HOPE not," Misao joked while emphasizing the word 'hope,' "that'd be so weird. Kind of nasty too."

"Aw can it and buckle up."

Omasu then shifted her car into drive and headed towards the nearest AMC theatre. After deciding to see a scary movie and watching it, they headed off to Omasu's cousin's party.

"So where is this place we're going to?" Misao partially yelled due to the fact that Omasu was driving a convertible, "How far away is it?"

"Omasu smiled, "It's a ways away. He lives like thirty minutes from the theatre."

"Well whatever," Misao commented nonchalantly, "Just make sure I'm home by eleven. Last time I came home later I had like every electronic thing taken away from me. Even toaster's and stuff."

Omasu glanced over at her, "That sucks!"

"Yeah I know! I mean, just because I come home late doesn't mean I can't toast my bread and bagels."

Her friend laughed, "Your mom doesn't trust you with anything once you do something wrong."

Misao nodded, "But the great thing is that she doesn't even trust me to take out the trash 'cause she thinks I'll run off or something."

Along the way there, they continued to share obscured stories about their families and laughed the whole way to Omasu's cousin's house.

The street, where he lived, was completely packed. This was obviously a big party.

"Wait, so how old is he again?" Misao asked again reassuring herself.

"He's a couple years older than us but he's going to be a senior. And just to remind you, he goes to a huge public school so it'll be crazy."

Misao gave an evil smirk, "I love crazy."

Omasu rolled her eyes and stepped up to the front steps and opened the door.

Omasu took Misao by the hand and led her through the crowds. It was as if this is what Omasu did on a daily routine. And Misao felt over-dressed too. It seemed like at this party, a tube top was decent. The pool outside was in use, and the hot tub had way too many people inside.

Just as she was passing the kitcken, she thought she just saw Soujiro standing with group of guys.

"Hey Omasu! Did I just see-,"

"Hey!"

Misao looked up. There stood one of the few guys who could pass Aoshi in the looks department. Omasu's cousin, Sanosuke Sagara.

"Hey Omasu! And Misao, haven't seen you in a while! Looking good, looking good…" he yelled over the blaring music

Omasu punched his shoulder, "We were just stopping by to check up on you, make sure you aren't doing anything wrong."

He chuckled, "Oh ok. So what, are you two just gonna hang here for a while or…are you looking for someone?"

Misao's ears perked up, "Actually," she cut in, "do you know anyone named Soujiro?"

Sanosuke's eyes lit up, "Yeah! We're pals. He should be here…I just saw him," Sano finished as he looked around behind him and waved to an anonymous person who had just entered the room, "Yeah I definitely don't see him."

Just then, a girl walked up and hooked herself on his arm, "Sano," she whined, "we were wondering where you went! I mean you just left."

All Misao could think about was how big her boobs were.

She tugged at Sanosuke's arm, "Come on Sano."

He smiled at her and said, "Wait, let me introduce you." She looked up at Omasu and Misao with a disdained look. Sano caught this and quickly spoke up, "This is my cousin Omasu and this is her friend Misao. Omasu, Misao, this is Kimiyo. She's a…uh…a friend of mine."

He looked down and winked at her as she giggled. Misao stomach turned a little as Omasu just smiled, "I'll see you later Sano, and don't forget my mom wants to have dinner with your family sometime soon!"

He waved back at he walked off with Kimiyo as Omasu and Misao just stood there for a little while, "So," Omasu asked, "What do you wanna do now?"

Misao looked around, "Fine Soujiro…I swear I saw him."

Omasu looked around too, but being a little on the short side, she found it a little difficult, "Um yeah, honey? I can't see a thing."

Misao laughed a little before she tugged Omasu to the kitchen where she had seen him last. She found the same group of guys who were there originally, but no Sou, "Hey, do you guys know someone names Soujiro?"

One looked at them, "Yeah."

"Where'd he go?" Misao asked intently as Omasu looked around and scanned the room.

"Um," the guy stuttered, "I think he went out back with his girlfriend."

And then he turned back and began chatting with his friends.

"Girlfriend?" Misao asked, "Who is she?"

She guy turned back, "Uh, her name is Asuko…" then he turned back for the final time.

Misao turned to Omasu and stared in bewilderment as Omasu waved to some guy who was walking by, "So did you get the lowdown?" Omasu asked while still looking in the opposite direction.

Misao replied yes and pulled Omasu's hand out the door to the backyard, which was big. It was hard to find Soujiro since almost everyone there was wearing dark clothing. He wasn't in the pool or hot tub and he certainly was smoking near the back fence. But just as she looked to her left, she saw Soujiro standing with a girl, and it looked like they were arguing.

"Hey look Omasu!" Misao pointed in the direction of Soujiro and the girl whom she had assumed to be Asuko. Omasu's eyes widened as Misao told her about the girl being Soujiro's girlfriend.

Soujiro looked completely different now that he was with a different group of people. He was wearing a black button up long sleeve shirt with loose, but fitting, jeans. His hair was a little more disheveled than usual and his eyes seemed darker than they normally appeared to be. He looked kind of hot. But Soujiro wasn't that good looking…was he?

"But he never said anything about having a girlfriend!" Omasu yelled as her face snapped back and forth between Soujiro, Asuko, and Misao.

"Yeah I know. I guess he didn't tell us all that much about him."

The two girls watched Soujiro and Asuko for a few minutes before Misao walked back inside, "Missy! Where're you going?"

"I'm thirsty," she replied hastily.

She went up to the counter and poured some coke into a cup. As soon as the bubbly liquid reached her mouth, she spit it out, "Crap! This stuff is spiked…" Omasu laughed while her friend wiped her mouth with her fingers, "Damn I'm thirsty."

Omasu pulled Misao to a cabinet, "Sano once told me about his," she opened it up only to find more alcoholic drinks.

"Way to go," Misao chided.

Omasu reached for the bottom shelf and pulled out a Sprite, "He told me in case I ever needed a clean drink, I should come here."

Misao hastily popped the can open and gulped half of it down, "Thank you Lord. Now let's do a little bit more spying."

"Right," Omasu said softly as she clapped and rubbed her hands together devilishly.

They stepped outside once more and found that Soujiro and Asuko were no longer together, but Soujiro was now talking to a couple of older looking men, one being the one Misao was talking to earlier, and Asuko was making her way to the house. Misao and Omasu stepped out of the way for her as she quickly made her leave.

"So ladies, having a good time?" It was Sanosuke.

"Yeah," Omasu replied whereas Misao was still looking at what Soujiro was doing. Sano caught this looked over at him too.

"He just broke up with his girl, Asuko," Sano said rather quietly, "It wasn't working out anyways."

Misao looked up, "Why?"

He leaned in and pointed to him, "That guy is bad news."

Misao gave a confused look before glancing back at Soujiro, "_Him? _Bad news? Are you sure?" Omasu gave the same look.

"Yeah!" Sano replied, "He's in a gang-ish thing. And what? Do you two know him?"

The two girls looked at each other in confusion as Omasu glanced up to her cousin, "Wait, does he go to your school?"

Sanosuke nodded and Misao asked again, "And he's a bad guy?"

He nodded again but shivered as soon as he did so, "And he's got this creepy smile too."

Misao was dumbstruck. Soujiro? Bad? Those two words didn't go together. And what was he doing at this party anyways? Wasn't he supposed to be with his parents somewhere far away? And his smile was _creepy_? Misao always thought his smile was innocent looking and…yeah?

"So who are those other guys with him?" Omasu asked a little frightened now.

"Um," Sano pointed to a dark looking man with a Band Aid on his cheek, "That one's name is Makoto," then he moved on to the taller one, "and that one is Kamatari." Then he pointed to a girl who had just entered the scene and was resting her head on Makoto's shoulder, "Oh, and she's Yumi…she's your story of a good girl gone bad I guess."

"What about the big one?" Misao asked while glancing at the really tall one who looked like he was standing guard.

"He's ah…oh, he's Anji."

Omasu looked at Misao as though she had just ate something horrifying, while Misao just stared bug-eyed at them for a while.

"I don't know who thought about it but people at my school call them the Jupo. I have no idea why, but yeah."

Misao looked up to him while gulping, "Have they done anything…like bad?"

Sano laughed a few times and replied, "Psh yeah. Mainly just beating people up though. But that Makoto guy is known for killing a few people here and there. Police haven't caught him yet because, well, he's Makoto Shishio."

"Why does that matter?" Omasu asked.

"'Cause," Sano sighed, "He's the only person I know who can do that shit and get away with it too."

Omasu glanced once more at the group of guys that stood in the distance and tugged on Misao's sleeve, "Missy, can we leave now? Your mom wanted you home by 11…"

Misao looked a little pissed, "He's so dead," she said lowly as she took a step towards them.

Sano saw this right away and grabbed her by the shoulders, picked her up, spun her around, and set her down so she couldn't get past him, "I think you'd better do what my cousin says and leave."

She glanced to where Soujiro and his gang mates would be, but Omasu cousin was blocking the way, "Fine, but just one more question."

"Shoot."

"Where do his parents live?"

Sano gave Misao a funny look before replying, "His parents are kind of a mystery. Noe one's ever seen or even heard of them."

She took one more look at Soujiro and actually made somewhat of eye contact with him. He looked as if he'd just seen a ghost or something.

She stomped off and Omasu and Misao said their goodbyes to Sanosukewho waved as they left. As the two girls sped away, Soujiro walked up and stood next tot the doorframe and watched Misao leave. As soon as Sano turned around he jumped, but soon a mean look glued onto his face, "What do you want?"

Soujiro looked off into the distance and looked at him…but soon smiled, "I don't think it's any of your business."

Sano glared, "You know them?"

Soujiro chuckled and left.

Sanosuke shivered as he thought once more that Soujiro was one freaky kid.

As Misao and Omasu sped off into the night sky, Omasu pointed at the clock since they only had ten more minutes left until 11.

"It was worth it though," she said loudly over the wind's noise.

As soon as they reached Misao's home at twenty past eleven, Misao mother was standing by the window looking mad as hell.

"Are you going to tell her?" Omasu asked, a little spooked still.

She glanced at her mom out of the corner in her eye and then back at Omasu, "What do you think?"

Omasu gave a loud gulping noise as she smirked and then asked, "Well make sure you tell me what your punishment is next time I see you."

Misao laughed as she hopped out and waved to Omasu who drove off slowly. Misao turned to walk up the steps to her house while her mother continued to stare at her. As soon as Misao opened the door, her mother walked by and chimed, "No, TV, no phones, no games, no friends, no computer, no microwave, and NO TOASTER."

Missy could only sigh. But no matter what, it was all still worth it.

But Misao couldn't help but feel…disappointed? No, that wasn't the word. It was there, but her head was just flooding with too many thoughts that she couldn't even picture his face.

Later that night when Misao's mother was far past asleep, Misao signed online and found her brother was on too.

(MisSyM25) 1:27:09 AM: How's hong kong fool

(HisbadselF) 1:27:24 AM: its nice

(HisbadselfF) 1:27:26 AM: y r u up this late

(MisSyM25) 1:27:34 AM: party, omasu's cousin

(HisbadselF) 1:27:40 AM: so what ur also telling me is that mom banned all electronics from u

(MisSyM25) 1:27:49 AM: yea lol

(HisbadselF) 1:27:53 AM: dumbass

(MisSyM25) 1:28:00 AM: guess what

(MisSyM25) 1:28:26 AM: HELLO?

(HisbadselF) 1:28:32 AM: speak woman

(MisSyM25) 1:28:52 AM: when I went to the party, I saw Soujiro there

(HisbadselF) 1:28:58 AM: I thought he was visiting his parents

(MisSyM25) 1:29:02 AM: I kno!

(MisSyM25) 1:29:13 AM: but it turns out he was in a gang and stuff at his old school and he did like, bad stuff there.

(HisbadselF) 1:29:15 AM: no way

(MisSyM25) 1:29:21 AM: 4 SERIOUS!

(HisbadselF) 1:29:39 AM: Well w/e but don't charge him with the situation, just remember that he isn't that way when he's around you, so you should treat people how they treat you

(HisbadselF) 1:29:45 AM: and plus he doesn't know u were theree

(MisSyM25) 1:29:50 AM: um

(MisSyM25) 1:29:51 AM: no?

(MisSyM25) 1:29:57 AM: he definitely saw me.

(HisbadselF) 1:30:22 AM: well have fun

HisbadselF signed off at 1:30:23 AM

"Shiro!" Misao whispered to herself quite loudly.

But he was right in the end. Soujiro hadn't really done anything to her, but just knowing that he was that kind of person left an impression on her. She wasn't like her brother, she couldn't just forget.

But it was going to be as awkward as hell once he got back from his parent's house. He definitely made eye contact with her.

Gang member? Come on, he was like the sweetest guy in the world. And Soujiro was DEFINITELY not hot. He might be cute, but not hot. And he never said anything about having a girlfriend! He lived in a completely different world than what Misao had expected.

But she had to admit silently to herself as she laid down in her bed with all of still on, he did look hell of fine.

'Maybe almost as handsome as…'

But she fell asleep.

The next morning, Misao described to her mother the killer traffic that kept Misao from getting home on time even though the traffic never really existed. Her mother forgave her only after a long lecture about responsibility.

Misao had toast for breakfast afterwards. Get it? Toast? Ah, never mind.

At around eleven in the morning, the phone rang, "Hello?" Misao answered.

There was silence on the other end for just a moment, but it was enough time to let Misao know who it was, "Soujiro?"

"Uh, yeah um…can you tell your mom that my plane's supposed to be delayed for tomorrow?"

Misao didn't answer at first just reliving last night. Until she whispered, "Who are you…?"

"Huh?"

Misao smacked her mouth with the palm of her hand and recovered, "Yeah, sure, bye."

She slammed down the phone down and turned around while she kept her hand on her mouth.

Misao heard a faint voice, "M-misao…you missed the receiver…"

Her eyes widened and turned around to find that she actually did miss the receiver by a good foot or so. She quickly grabbed it and hung up the phone quickly.

She punched the sides of her head as she took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and headed upstairs to her room. As she passed Shiro;s ex-room, she stopped for a moment.

She really was going to miss him.

As she arrived to her room, she checked her cell phone only to find out that the one person that was last on her mind had called and left a message.

Sanosuke. Huh?

'Hey it's Sano, just wondering if you want to hang or something…yeah call me back. Bye."

She saved the message and stared at her phone.

"YESSS!"

Now she could make Aoshi jealous, but he wasn't getting anywhere 'cause SANO WAS HOT!

There is a God.

'Take that Aoshi…take that. You and your girlfriend can BITE ME!'

Misao thought she'd call Omasu first and fill her in.

Today was going to be a good day. Well, at least until before tomorrow.

About forty miles away, Soujiro leaned against the door that led out back. He watched the clouds roll by and the trees sway with the wind. But no matter how much he focused on the scenery, he couldn't get Misao out of his head. You'd think that this ended relationship would be more on his mind but for some strange reason, she was just there. Maybe she was the reason he broke up with Asuko…

He felt sick. He'd better go help his mother with something. Maybe that'd get his mind off of her.

He didn't like her in a way that he would a girlfriend, but the feeling remained.

What was wrong with him?

End.

So I did the thing, where it's kind of like the Meiji era or whatever, but it's now. Does that make sense. If not, TOO BAD, read it over again. I just wanted to show the Tenken side in the modern day Sou. He's so evil. This story's gonna be shorter than I planned so stay tuned…I'm guessing like eight chapters…but hey, I don't know. I'm quite proud of the AIM scene, I did all of it and I did it from memory! So sorry if it isn't exact, but I'm still happy. Um, I DON'T think Sano's is one of the best looking characters of RK, but I had no other choice. I mean, do you seriously want Misao hooking up with Saitoh or something like that. And Kenshin…I have something else for him. Trust me…honestly. And review! I'm lovin' the reviews. Love you all!

Stay wit meh!

NaiLAUG!


	4. Our Reflection and Destruction

Truth Is

Blueskyti: I get your point, but I never really actually said that Soujiro was the bad guy. I was just explaining that the group that he was a part of was not the greatest.

Leona Westley: Yeah about Sano…well I don't know if I explained this but Soujiro and Sano are supposed to go to the same school. And since news flies within schools, he hears about all of the stuff that they do.

Some-slut: I don't personally think fictional characters are hot. Misao might or not on the other hand. I don't know, maybe you should ask her? COME ON WOMAN! I just type whatever to move the story along. You can keep in mind that not everything I write is everything I think.

And Note to all: I think I mentioned at the end of the first chapter that you would see some things that you would see in a non-AU or 'regular' story. Like how Soujiro was a part of Shishio's group, how he and Misao meet blah blah blah. What I'm trying to do is tell another version of the story in modern-day times. So I guess it's pretty lame but there are going to be some factors in the story that you're familiar with. Sorry and have fun!

There were times when Soujiro didn't quite see the same person in the mirror each and every day. Sometimes he saw an innocent kid, other times he saw a person who was so angry, and then on certain occasions he saw a lost kid just trying to find his way.

He had to admit to himself though, ever since his father had been hospitalized, he began to see a nobody standing before him. It scared him for a while but soon enough, he learned to cope with it.

But ever since he moved into the Makimacho household, the nobody he once saw before him began to transform into a person worth viewing…

…A person who seemed strong and needed.

A person he liked.

But why was being his new self so difficult now? He had become a better person, but there were times when he didn't want to show it. Such as times like when he was at the guy Sanosuke's party and times when he was around…

…Misao?

Chapter four – Our Reflection and Destruction

Misao hopped out of the shower and turned on the blow drier, "Crap I just have like…20 MINUTES!" she screamed as she flew out of her bathroom and swung her closet door open, "Crap, crap, crap, crap…"

Misao pulled out a dark blue polo with a white spaghetti strap underneath and just a cute pair of pants. She scurried back to the bathroom and worked with the blow drier until you heard the doorbell ring. You ran downstairs to get the door to find Omasu standing there talking on her cell.

"Yeah can I call you back? I'm at a friend's house. 'Kay, I'll talk to you later. What's up Missy?"

Misao stared at her friend for a while before Omasu asked, "What?"

"Rude much?"

Omasu rolled her eyes, "Well come on Misao! I'm sorry."

Misao stared at her for a moment before yanking Omasu arm and flying upstairs, "MISAO! LET ME GOOO!" Omasu hollered as Misao threw her on your bed.

"What am I going to do with my hair?" Misao yelled as Omasu pulled out a stick of gum and began to chew on it.

"Iono…just leave it in a braid like you normally do…it's cute and all."

Misao gauged her hands in the air, "NO! It has to be special! Should I do curls? Or crimps? Or just straight? Or maybe I should just cut it all off…"

"NO!" Omasu now realized her friend was really loosing it, "Misao, I didn't do anything special, I just got ready how I normally do when I'm getting ready for school and stuff. You don't have to make it all out you know."

Misao whimpered, "But Sano's really, really-,"

"Don't say it! I don't want to picture my cousin like that. Going on a double date with my cousin is weird enough."

Misao nodded off, "Well you don't have to stick around…I just had to tell my mom that so she would bug out of anything."

Ding

Dong

"Crap! Braid my hair really quick."

"Fine…"

A few seconds later, after Omasu's mad braiding skills, Misao ran downstairs to get Sano and Omasu's date.

"Hey Misao! Lookin' lovely today. And this is my friend Kimishiro."

"Hi," Misao said rather quietly, "Hey come on in, Omasu will be ready in just a quick sec so hold on for a little…"

"I'm done," Omasu yelled while walking down the stairs before she jumped back at the sight of Sano's friend Kimishiro.

"WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?" She yelled as audibly as she could. Sano just chuckled on the other hand and shrugged, "You did this on purpose! How could you?"

"Hey! I'm right here!" Kimishiro yelled.

Misao's glances dodged around the room, "Huh?"

Sano sat down next to her, "Ah, it's this whole thing that happened a while ago and apparently they haven't let go."

Misao watched as Omasu refused to come down the stairs while the other decided to plop himself on a couch opposite of them. It was then that Misao stepped up to grab Omasu and pull her downstairs, "We'll meet you outside." Sanosuke said loudly so Misao could hear.

Misao smiled at him as he walked out but quickly turned to Omasu, "What's your deal with him?"

Omasu pouted, "I used to like him."

"SO?"

"So," Omasu began, "somehow word got out and he turned me down the worst way anyone could."

"And how was that?"

She sighed, "He came up to my face and turned me down…if front of everybody."

"Ouch…do how long ago was this?"

"Fourth grade."

Misao stayed silent for a while soaking up what she just heard, "Omasu I can't believe you…GET OVER IT!"

"It's not that easy! Then the jackass came up to me a couple months ago and asked me out. I mean come on."

"What are you talking about come on?"

"He totally and completely embarrassed me!"

"Omasu…," Misao started but didn't finish. She just sat up and walked down the stairs. While Omasu reluctantly followed. They headed out and met up with Sanosuke and Kimishiro. Omasu refused to make eye contact.

"We thought we'd take you ladies shopping." Sano said rather proudly for some reason.

"So you're buying all our stuff?" Omasu asked hopefully.

"Hello no," Kimishiro replied to the side.

They then all hopped into the car and drove off. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the shopping center.

"And this is where we split up." Sanosuke said as he took Misao from around the shoulder and walked off from Omasu and Kimishiro.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" They both yelled in unison with beyond frightened faces.

"I mean, you guys go that way, and me 'n Missy here will go this way. Got it? Good."

He walked off with Misao before Omasu and Kimishiro could make any sort of comeback.

Ten minutes into the date, Misao finally asked Sano, "So you want them to get together?"

He looked down at you, "Huh?"

"It just seems," she began, "That you really want to get them together. Because Omasu was telling me about how he turned her down, and then a couple months ago he asked her out and yeah… it just seems they don't have such a great history together."

Sano chuckled a little, "Oh so you know about that?"

Misao nodded.

"Well," he began while the two of you sat on a bench, "what you or Omasu don't know is that Kimi actually did like Omasu when he found out that she liked him, but I told him that it was just a joke she was messing with or something, so when she confronted him, he said no. Like a month later I told him that I was wrong, so he felt like a complete jerkoff. So she stayed bitter I guess and he finally gained the courage to ask her again. But since she was bitter, she said no and I kind of felt like all of this was my fault."

"Aw," Misao cooed, "that's so sweet," Misao was turning up her game.

"Not really…"

Misao looked up, "how come?"

"'Cause I'm kind of…"

"Kind of what?"

"I feel really bad about this…"

"Seriously what?"

"I'm kind of using you."

Her heart stopped for a slight second. Using her?

"What do you mean?" She barely got out.

Sano sighed and set his hand behind his head, "I gave Kimishiro a few details about my idea to get them two together. But when I told Omasu I had a guy for her to go out with, she said she didn't want to do it alone. So then I asked her if I would go on a double date with her, would she go, and she said fine. So…then I picked you 'cause you and her are really tight. So I thought you'd understand the situation…"

He looked up at Misao.

Even though her heart had almost split in two, she kept a smile on her face. Sure she had been semi tricked into a false relationship, but it was for her best friend's sake. It was worth the pain…right?

Right.

But Misao couldn't help but think to herself about when it would finally be her turn to be the one. Be the special person your significant other would need.

Maybe she wanted to be needed.

Maybe she wanted to be loved.

The only thing she did know was that she wanted someone.

Someone she could count on.

But where would she find a person like that? No one really needed her, and no other guy really loved her. And there apparently weren't any guys she could count on.

First Aoshi…

Then Sanosuke…

How many more broken hearts would Misao need to replace. And at such a young age too.

When…

"Are you alright Misao?" Sano asked. She then realized she was staring off into the distance.

"Yeah…that's actually still really sweet of you to do that for your cousin. I mean, my cousins would sell me to slavery in a second if they could."

He chuckled sadly a little before he apologized, "I'm really sorry you know."

Misao smiled and nodded, "It's ok." No it wasn't.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

No.

Why couldn't she show how she really felt…?

"Thanks missy."

You're not welcome.

"It's ok, so that Kimyo was your girlfriend?"

"Friends with benefits…well yeah I guess we are."

"You better not tell her about this!" You said laughingly while he chuckled too.

"Hey let's go back and see how the other two are doing."

You smiled and nodded as you sat up and walked by his side. Misao was really getting sick of this game. This game she wasn't winning. The game she wasn't moving forward at all. If anything, she was moving backward.

Life sucks.

_It has its ravines and mountains._

'Yeah,' Misao thought to herself, 'Well then I'm making a straight tumble towards the bottom.'

Misao needed someone to save her.

When Misao and Sano finally caught up with Omasu and Kimishiro, Misao could tell that made up a little but not nearly enough to where Sano wanted them to be.

But Misao could tell that deep down, each one of them cared a great deal for each other.

So romantic…

But romance sucks.

The rest of the day passed by nicely but when Misao and Omasu got back to Misao's house, all hell broke loose.

'AND THEN THE ONLY REASON I CAME ALONG WAS SO YOU AND KIMISHIRO WOULD BE COMFORTABLE!"

Omasu sat on Misao's bed while Misao went on, "Then he tells me about his stupid friends with benefits relationship with Kimyo…God. I can't believe what an idiot I am."

She sat next to Omasu and brought her hands to her eyes as she rubbed them. Omasu then rubbed and patted her back, "You're not an idiot Misao…"

Misao looked up, her eyes a little red since she was on the verge of crying, "Yes I am! You should've seen me all I could do was nod and smile. It's like I don't have a mind of my own!"

Just then, they heard the bottom door close, "Hello?"

It was Soujiro.

"Uh oh…" Omasu said nervously as she ran up to the door to the room and peeked out, "Hi Sou! How was your trip?"

He looked up and saw Omasu sticking her head out of Misao's room, "Oh it was ok. Is Misao here?"

Omasu tucked her head back in before looking back out, "Um, no?"

Soujiro stared at her for a moment until she tucked her head in Misao's room once more and then popped out again, "Well, she is, but she doesn't feel like talking."

"Why?"

Omasu tucked her head back in once more but this time lasted a little longer then they previously did. Once she came back out, she replied, "Miss Makimachi isn't seeing visitors at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep….beep."

Soujiro chuckled a little before glancing to the side and chuckling, "Ok, tell her that I hope everything's alright and I'll be here just in case she needs anything."

Omasu tucked back in Misao's room one last time and returned, "She says thanks."

Soujiro turned but kept his eye on the slightly opened door that led to her room. He really was worried about what was up with her. Could it have been the fact that she saw him in his second life? He had to admit to himself, the life he was leading at home wasn't the way to go at all. But always in his mind, he really, really wanted to change. He wanted something better.

And you know what's funny? Ever since he met Misao, he felt that he could just relax and be himself…

And that's all he ever wanted.

He stepped into the kitchen and stopped at the counter as he gazed down at the white tiles. He really, really didn't want Misao to see him the other night. He didn't even know why he went to that stupid party in the first place. And he didn't plan on going back any time soon.

An hour later, he heard the front door open and shut. Omasu must've left.

A couple minutes later, Misao walked into the kitchen but jumped back at the sight of Soujiro, "Oh, I didn't know you were here…"

He stared at her funny for a moment before turning around, "Can I get you anything?"

She shook her head, "I'm fine…how was your trip…to see your parents?"

He stayed silent for a little while before answering, "It was fine."

"How's your Dad?"

"He's getting worse."

"Oh…sorry."

"It's ok."

This conversation was just getting more and more awkward by the second. But by the time a whole minute had passed by Soujiro finally spoke up, "You don't have to act like you didn't see me there."

"What do you mean?" she asked while looking up. She had been asking that question a lot lately…

"At Omasu's cousin's house."

"Oh."

A few more seconds passed…

"So?" Misao asked, "It was just a party."

"He told you things, didn't he?" Soujiro asked as his eye grew darker and softer at the same time.

"Who's he?"

He looked down for a moment and then picked his head up as he asked, "Can you just tell me everything that happened there?"

She shrugged, "Not much…I swear I didn't drink anything though!" He chuckled for a moment before she continued, "No, but nothing happened."

Soujiro didn't believe her for a second. He knew Sano told her things about him that he never wanted her to hear. Sanosuke even told Soujiro that he told Misao about him because he wanted her to be able to know the situation.

He looked down. He couldn't just escape, could he?

Misao then headed towards the door that led to the hallway, "Hey well, I'm going to the movies with Omasu in a little while so if you hear me leave…well that means I'm leaving," she glanced at Soujiro who was really looking down, "Do you wanna come?"

He perked up, "Is it ok?"

"Well duh, that's why I'm inviting you," he nodded while she went on, "Just be ready in like, half an hour."

"I'm afraid I don't need that long."

"Why not?"

"I'm not a girl."

"Oh shut up!" she yelled as she slammed the door behind her.

Half an hour later…

Hey Sou are you ready?" Misao hollered as she walked down the stairs. Soujiro was sitting on the couch fast asleep. As she stepped next to him, she saw how sad he really looked. He couldn't be a bad guy, and even if he hung out with the wrong group, it didn't have to mean he was like them. But as she continued to watch him, she got a great idea. She ran to the kitchen next to the potted plant and grabbed the squirt bottle and set it to mist. She ran back to Soujiro and, "ACHOO!" as she squirted the bottle at his face.

She couldn't decided what was funnier, the fact that he practically fell off the couch or his face after it happened.

"HAHAHA" Misao went on as she continued to crack up.

"That's disgusting!" he called out as he sat up. All Misao did was hold up the squirt bottle.

"I'm gonna get you for that," Soujiro said darkly but still with a smile on his face.

Misao just giggled as she scampered away, "No you won't!"

He chased after her and just as she was about to run up the stairs, he wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled her back as they fell onto the carpet on the ground. As Misao sat up and turned around, she saw that Soujiro was still lying on his back with his eyes closed, "Sou?" she asked nervously not knowing if he was ok.

He murmured, "Mmhm?" while his eyes remained closed.

"Why don't you open your eyes?"

"I don't feel like it."

Misao leaned in close and tried to pry open his eyes, "Come…on!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"What are you two doing?"

It was Omasu.

Misao and Soujiro glanced up to her but shortly realized the awkward position they were in. Misao climbed off Soujiro and asked Omasu, "Ready?"

"Well yeah, that's why I'm here. Come on, I have the good car today!"

Misao hopped as she heard this and ran outside and screamed, "IT'S BEAUTIFUL!"

Omasu and Soujiro walked out to see a beautiful silver sports car with a leather hood. Omasu was loaded apparently. Misao was already hugging it while Soujiro walked up and stroked it, "Nice," he whispered to himself.

"Ok, ok, stop molesting my car and get it, we're already late."

"Oh shut up Omasu," Misao chided as she sat next to her and Sou took the back.

Omasu turned around to look at Soujiro and then Misao, "So I assume we're taking Soujiro with us?"

"Yeah," Misao said nonchalantly obviously forgetting the 'certain people' they were meeting at the theater.

"Whatever you say Missy." Omasu said warningly as she sped off.

When they parked, they walked up to the entrance of the theater.

"Oh…crap." Misao said quietly as she saw Sanosuke and Kimishiro walking up to them.

"Hey guys…," Sano welcomed, but as soon as he saw Soujiro.

Just then Misao and Omasu looked back since they expected Sano to be acting a little differently since Soujiro was there with them. But when they looked back, he was gone.

"What are you two looking at?" Kimishiro asked as he neared the group.

"Oh, it's you. Nothing."

Kimishiro set his hands back in defense, "Whoa, what's with the attitude?"

"She's just not in the mood to see you I guess," Sanosuke chuckled as he patted his saddened friend on the back, "I picked out a scary one."

"Ooh, why Sano?" Omasu whined, "You know how I get in scary movies!"

"Yeah I do. You crawl up into the fetal position."

Everyone laughed while Omasu hit him quite hard on the shoulder, "I've already bought the tickets so have a nice time trying to get out of them," Sano laughed once more.

"Man…" she whimpered.

Once they were inside of the movie theater, Omasu already had her hands over her eyes, "Omasu!" Kimishiro yelled, "The screen's black! There isn't anything there!"

"Shut up, shut up! Get away from me!" She squealed as she batted his hands away.

For the rest of the time until the movie started, Sano and Kimishiro kept trying to scare her. But the whole while, Misao kept wondering where Soujiro went. But the real fun started when the movie actually began.

"Hey look, he's gonna get it," Kimishiro whispered into Omasu's ear as she whimpered and refused to watch what appeared on the screen.

"BOO!" Sano whispered loudly into her ear.

Maybe it was that she screamed that made everything even funnier than it had been originally. But after Omasu screamed, she bolted out the door.

"She's been gone for a while," Kimishiro mumbled.

"I'll go look for her," Misao said as she sat up and headed for the door.

"Better hurry," Sano warned, "movie's about to start."

With a nod, Misao then exited the movie room, "Omasu!" she called out but with no prevail. She thought for a moment and decided to check out all of the theaters while she was at it…, "Omasu?"

Five minutes later, Misao finally found herself entering a comedy. She scanned the room to see if she could find the top of Omasu's head.

But instead of finding Omasu's, she found Soujiro's.

"Sou!"

He was sitting kind of towards the back row so it wasn't a problem about the name-calling, "Oh, hi."

Misao sat down next to him, "So felt like ditching us?"

He glanced back at the screen, "I didn't exactly want to see Sagara here."

Misao pondered for a moment of what Sagara meant until she realized it was Sano's last name, "What? You don't like him?"

"No, he doesn't like me."

"Oh…"

They stayed silent for a while until Misao glanced at the screen and asked, "Mind if I stay here with you?"

Soujiro turned his head towards her, "Aren't you with Omasu, Sagara, and his friend?"

She waved him off, "I can just say I was looking for Omasu, cause I really was."

"Why?"

"We were seeing a horror flick and she jetted out."

He smiled and then the both of them then continued to watch the film.

It was only after the movie did they speak to each other again, "You know," Soujiro began, "you're smile is really pretty."

"What?" She asked as she tried to divert the conversation.

He flicked her chin and smiled, "You're smile is pretty," he said a little softer.

She blushed a little bit as she turned around, "Come on, we better get back to Sano and Kimishiro…and who knows where Omasu is!"

He neared her backside, "Their movie doesn't get out for another half an hour though…"

She turned around to face him again, "Sou, are you feeling alright? I mean…"

"You mean what?" he asked as he brushed some of her bangs out of her eyes.

"I mean," she stuttered as she thought for a moment…but Misao always had a habit of talking before she thought, "Is this how you treated Asuko?"

He backed away a little bit, "See? I can tell Sagara was saying stuff about me."

Misao shoved her hands against her face, "YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T MEAN ANY OF THAT?"

"Did you want me to mean any of it?" he asked smoothly.

"Wha…" but she couldn't find the words to finish, "You know what? Have a nice time catching a ride home!" Misao then stormed out of the room and Soujiro watched her go. He felt a little bad but he really wanted to know if she was telling the truth or not.

As soon as Sano and Kimishiro's movie let out, Misao was waiting for them. Even Omasu was there with them, "Makimachi!" Kimishiro yelled, "Where'd you go? Omasu came running back in a couple minutes after you left!"

Misao scratched the back of her head, "My bad guys…the ticket people wouldn't let me back in…"

"That sucks, it was a good movie though. We'll have to catch it sometime later. My treat!" Sano offered as Misao giggled.

But out of the corner of her eye, she could've sworn she saw Soujiro walking out of the theater with a guy who had a band-aid on his cheek…

Half an hour later, Misao and Omasu got home, "I'll see you later!" Misao called out as she walked up the steps and turned the key to her house, "Damn key!" she whispered while the key got stuck.

Just then, she heard the door click. Once it opened, she glanced upward to see a weary looking Soujiro, "It took you long enough to get home. What is it, like a ten minute drive from the theater?"

"I was hanging out a little! And how'd you get home?"

He shrugged, "I got a ride from a friend who was there."

"Makoto?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

He walked over to her, "Misao, how come to seem to know so much about me? Exactly how much did Sagara tell you?"

"He didn't tell me _that _much!" she defended, "And why's it such a bad thing to know all of this about you?"

He paused for a while, "Everyone has their privacy you know."

"But you live with me! You're like my brother almost! And I barely know anything about you!"

He glanced at her with a concerned look, "Brother?"

She sighed, "Yeah brother! Why?"

"Nothing. But Missy, you just have to understand, sometimes there are things Id don't want you to know for your own safety."

"Oh give me a break! That sounds so corny!"

"Misao-,"

"What?"

"I'm serious!"

He said as he grabbed the sides of her arms.

"I can protect myself, thank you very much."

He sighed and held his forehead with the palm of his hand, "I…"

"Hm?"

He threw his hand down and looked at her with eyes that she could only describe as…, "I just didn't want you to know…out of all people! I thought I could start over with you…so please, don't dig any deeper…"

…sad.

She gazed at him for a while as he stared back at her. After a minute, a funny feeling churned in the bowels of her stomach, "What do you mean, 'start over with me?'"

His eyes widened a little as he turned around, "Just never mind. I'm going to go to bed." He then walked up the stairs. Misao then sat on the sofa and began to flip through the channels trying to comprehend the situation. But it wasn't before long until she heard familiar footsteps walking down the stairs, "Hey Misao?"

Sou.

"Yeah what?"

"Um," he sounded like he was having problems speaking, "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow."

"Sure."

"Ok, goodnight then."

"'Night."

Then Soujiro headed up the stairs once more.

End.

Well, well, well. I must say I had a spurt of imagination and I had to run on it for a whole chapter. You might be a little confused with this chapter because it bounces around all the time but so do I so please don't give me grief for it. You might also notice that on the description is reads, 'temporarily on hold,' and that's what it is. And same with When Dreams Come True. Thing is, I've run out of ideas for now and also I'm dedicated most of my time to my friend and my story and yes, it is coming out. So watch out for that one and see you later.

Bye!

NaiLAUG!


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